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Island/Part two
Executive action Send him in. And send Strauss the moment he gets here.|Jonathan Studeman enters the office and the secretary closes the door behind him.}} Well, I talked to Joe. I told him the president was adamant that no matter what he suspects he must never impugn the loyalty or integrity of J. Robert Oppenheimer. I told him the hearing demanded by Oppenheimer would be held in secret, and that whatever came out would be strictly out-of-bounds. I told him if he ever dares to publicly call Oppenheimer a communist, the president will vigorously denounce him as a crackpot and defend Oppenheimer.}} You were an Assistant District Attorney in Los Angeles. Then a successful defense lawyer. Now you're a partner in Studeman, Weiss, and DeGreer, specializing in international law. Corporate accounts. All quite lucrative, I imagine. And you are only 30 years old!}} Just how long do you suppose it will take us to get to the bottom, Chuck? The demonstrators want to disrupt the testing. So, they float some rumors and we just go ahead and stop the program? For how long?}} Spill it.}} Mr. President, just before the shot — I mean, right before it — one of the RADAR operators on Kwajalein, well, he sort of went nuts. He started screaming that there was a vessel in the lagoon, in very close at Tare, that's Eninman Island, ground zero. It was impossible. We had some empty old warships towed in nearby as usual, you know, to test the effects, but they were on the other side. We had nothing in the lagoon for this one, and every floating thing out there had been accounted for, so the kid wasn't believed. Heck, he'd been one of those compiling reports from scout planes and patrol craft and now he was saying he and everybody had missed something? Anyway, it was too late, and when this kid was told the order to fire had been sent, well, he really lost it. He started screaming and waving charts at everyone, saying, look here, look again, there was a ship of some sort near Enyu Island the night before. We don't even use Enyu Island anymore. That's where the control bunker was for Castle Bravo. So nobody could explain it. Okay, he'd got everyone's attention. That was 2 hours ago. It took a while to get a scout plane into the shot area, and I was waiting for the call back on what they found.}} Do you agree, counselor?}} Well, I don't see how it's a criminal matter just yet. On the other hand, I also don't know how a vessel gets past the patrols without inside help. So if McCarthy's right that there's someone inside the AEC or the Defense Department lending a hand, well, that would be criminal, sure.}} Remain seated, young man. I'll tell you when you can go. Do you think this was Bigelow?}} Okay. Here's what we do. The military will investigate, but the White House will be in control.}} Confessions Late night with the congressmen, Admiral?.}} Hell, no! They're on their way to Indochina. This was just a stopover. Just — just a distraction.}} Well, that's good. That's wonderful. Thank you, Bryan.}} The president’s man will be arriving soon, sir. Are there any, well, particular instructions in that regard.}} Welcome to the Marshall Islands, sir. Did you get any sleep on the flight?}} Some. I had a cot with the cargo.|The two men speak as they walk from the airfield along a sand-covered pathway fringed with desmodium and Bermuda grass. It is warm and windy as usual on the flat, 3-mile long, ½-mile wide island.}} Jon!}} I was in Hawaii a couple weeks ago.}} Fine. Be my guest|Studeman exits the room, turns in the direction O'Connor had indicated, and enters the next room. It has a table, chairs and window like the other, but also has a large map of the Marshall Islands pasted up and fully covering one of the walls. Levanthal, O'Connor and the colonel come in behind Studeman. At the table sits young Russ, a khaki-uniformed petty officer. He has an elastic band at his chest, a blood pressure measuring device on his arm, and electrical conductivity sensors attached to his fingers.}} Ma'am, you can go along to your quarters if you don’t mind. We won't be needing your services. Thank you very much for coming, though.|The polygraph operator is a stern, humorless, unattractive woman. She looks up, annoyed, at Studeman, and then quizzically at Levanthal.}} My father is an asshole! He would kill me if he knew what I was doing! I'm not a fascist like him. I don't hate. Nobody was supposed to get hurt! They were good people. Good, good people. All they wanted was to make a protest, that's all. I was guiding them in. We thought we had time. When it blew, they were right there. Oh, god! Nobody was supposed to get hurt!}} I have a short wave radio. I had frequencies and callsigns. It was a family. A father, a mother, some kids. They staged out of a campsite on Elvaton Island. That's all I can tell you.}} Where would I go?}} I’m afraid not. The seaplanes are over tasked. I'll tell you what, though. They can probably bum a ride and get pretty damn close. There's an SA-16 we've been using to get a couple RAWIN operators back on Eniwetak for weather forecasting. The airplane has to stay there with the operators. They can’t be left on the island more than an hour or so. Radiation hazard. But if you can arrange for a vessel to rendezvous there, at Eniwetak, well, it could sail up to Elvaton fairly quickly.}} Well, I guess we'll find out.}} The monster of Mittelwerk Show me!|Huzel does not move, so the soldier begins to walk past him toward the trucks. Huzel grabs the submachine gun and pulls, using the shoulder strap in an attempt to drag the soldier to one side of the tunnel.}} Go! Go! Go!|The lead truck starts forward as Huzel struggles with the soldier. The soldier draws his pistol from its holster, but Huzel grabs that hand, and the two men wrestle for control of it. When the pistol is between their bodies, three shots are heard. The truck screeches to a halt. Huzel staggers backwards. The pistol is still in the soldier's hand. Huzel looks down at his own shirtfront. It is stained with blood, but not his own. The soldier falls dead. Huzel looks at Krueger, and sees that Krueger's pistol is pointed at him, the barrel still smoking from the three shots he has just fired.}} Hans, what have you done?}} Take me with you!}} Take me with you! To the Americans!}} Are you insane?}} No!}} All right. Get in.|As Krueger mounts the truck to sit between Huzel and the driver, we flash forward to Krueger in the custody of American occupation forces. He is in a room by himself, pacing nervously. The door opens and a U.S Army officer of Special Forces enters.}} Good news, Henry. Very good news. They have found the materials, just where you said they would. They are ecstatic, and very, very grateful. I now think there is a good chance you will be taken to America with the others.}} I'm sorry.}} Let me give you some advice. If you make it to America, change your story. Tell everyone you are a communist, Henry. You'll do much better with the eggheads. In fact, if you can convince the American scientists that you're a Jew communist, they'll treat you like one of their own.|A close-up of Krueger smiling in appreciation dissolves into the image of Krueger 9 years older. He is balding, and with a pot belly. He is pacing again, this time outdoors, at the gate to Schofield Barracks on Oaho. An Army lieutenant approaches from inside the compound, and a guard hands him what appears to be a drivers license and points him toward Krueger. The lieutenant continues walking and draws near to Krueger just outside the gate. We hear words echoing in Krueger's mind, "Tell everyone you're a communist."}} Here's your ID, eh, Hans-Heinric? What can we do for you, sir?}} Do you know General Walker?}} Well, then, why don’t you just call him?}} Yeah. May I ask what this is about, sir?}} I have a message for you, General. It's from a man who calls himself Henry. He said you'd know what to do.|Walker takes the slip paper and looks at it. A close-up shows the content. : 3-I-4-29 2-I-12-27 : 1-III-3-91 l-V-34-5 : 2-IV-3-12 2-VII-14-86 : 2-III-4-15 l-V-26-44 : 3-II-1-40 2-III-3-5}} I'd appreciate it if you just forget about this, okay?}} }} What man, sir?|When the door closes behind the lieutenant, Walker opens a desk drawer and pulls out a leather-bound book. A close-up shows it to be George Orwell's novel, 1984. Walker smooths the paper on his desk, takes up a pencil, flips through the book to find a particular page and, after counting words, jots a word down on the paper below the columns of numbers. The word is "Unexpected." As he repeats this process the scene fades out and in to signify the passage of time. He is weary now, but has retrieved the entire message. A close-up reveals the content. : Unexpected incident. : Ship vaporized. : All dead. : Instructions needed. : Usual place. A close-up of Walker shows him to be shocked, alarmed and, eyes shifting left and right, wondering what to do. At last he has decided. He takes a lighter from his pocket and burns the note in an ashtray. Then, he picks up a telephone handset and dials a number. After a moment, his call is answered}} Horror on Elvaton Island I can't say about his vice-president. Nixon seems a bit too calculating for my taste. I'm just not sure I trust him.}} Let's not say anything at all. Okay?}} Jesus Christ Almighty! What the hell is that!}} All stop! Full reverse! All stop! Drop anchor, Ensign Harding! Launch the boat immediately! Send a corpsman, two corpsmen! Geiger sampling continuous into shore. Shore party to be in full protective gear. Move! What the fuck is going on here?}} There. Look there! See that cliff with a tarpaulin dangling to the water? Look to the right of that on the sand at the water line. There are two bodies. See them?}} Jesus. I see one!}} Okay. Okay. You get yourselves ashore, then, gentleman. But I expect some answers, do you understand me?|A landing boat is being lowered over the side. Moments later, Studeman, Levanthal, two medical corpsmen, a Geiger counter operator, a Lieutenant Junior Grade and three other sailors, all in similar protective gear, climb down rope ladders into the wooden landing boat and head in to shore. The outboard motor roars noisily and propels them at high speed. Bounding over tiny waves, the coxswain runs the bow of the boat up onto the beach, where they are jolted to a sudden halt at a spot halfway between two bodies on the shore. Levanthal and Studeman go in opposite directions, each in a group that includes one of the medical corpsmen. All are wearing surgical marks. The corpsman with Levanthal's group, assisted by one of the other sailors, drags the lifeless form of a medium build, blond-haired woman up fully onto the beach, and turns the body over. A swarm of flies explodes around them. We can recognize her. She is Alicia Benneton, but her eyes are missing from their sockets.}} This is well healed, sir. This is nothing recent. This child was scarred a long time ago.}} See if you can get that seaplane up here from Eniwetak. I'm going ashore.}} Lower the captain's gig! We're going ashore!|Inside the olive-green canvas shade tent, large enough for five or six men, the shore party has found a small, half-Asian boy lying face-up on a blanket, unconscious but breathing steadily. He is a badly hair-lipped child, bleeding at his lips. Near him are discarded food wrappers and empty water bottles. One of the corpsmen takes a water canister from his belt, kneels beside the child, cradles him in his arms, and tries to revive him and get a bit of moisture past his dry lips.}} Child, you will be all right now. You are safe. We will take care of you. Can you understand me? What do we call you, son? What is your name, child?}} We must be very careful moving him. He should sleep until we get him to a hospital.|The corpsman draws open his case and begins to prepare a sedative. The lieutenant enters the tent, still wearing his mask.}} There's no radiation danger. Please send your team out to search the island for other survivors. Shouldn't take long. I'll tell the captain what I can.|Studeman and Levanthal walk together down to the beach and meet the captain's gig coming to shore aside the landing boat. The captain jumps to the sand and walks to them. His face is grim.}} I know how they died. }} Jonathan, are you all right?}} The woman was blinded by the flash of the Koon explosion. She was looking through binoculars for a vessel she hoped would return from the southwest. Her eyes were destroyed. Yes, maybe she felt the tremors and the air blast. She imagined whoever she was looking for had been killed. She had no way to call for help. She and those children were soon to die — horribly — of thirst if they were lucky to die quickly — of radiation poisoning if they lived too long — as that little girl's parents must have died at Hiroshima or Nagasaki. But she was ready. She gave the children cyanide capsules before taking one herself. She couldn't tell if they swallowed theirs. The girl took hers and died. But the boy never did. He wanted to live. He's been here alone for 3 days!}}